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Fundamentally Freund: Rebuild Gush Katif

Posted by emmalazarus on January 14, 2009

Last week, shortly after Israeli ground forces entered Gaza, there was a brief news item on the radio which caught my attention.

Amid the flurry of reports emanating from the front, the announcer noted in passing that troops had arrived at the ruins of the Jewish communities of Dugit in northern Gaza and Netzarim in the center of the strip He then quickly moved on to discuss various other pressing events in the current campaign against terror.

Left unsaid, of course, was the colossal and bitter irony of this development. After all, it was just three and a half years ago, in August 2005, that soldiers descended on the Jewish communities of Gaza to expel their Jewish residents from their homes. And now the men in uniform find themselves forced to do battle against Hamas in those very same locations.

What a stinging rebuke to all those who preached the gospel of retreat in the face of terror and prophesied peace and harmony by removing Jews.

If nothing else, it is a telling reminder of a basic and fundamental truth of Zionist history and Middle Eastern reality: Jewish settlements are not an obstacle to peace, but an impediment to war.

Only by firmly planting the flag deep into every part of the Land of Israel can we ensure our continued existence in the face of ongoing Arab expansionism and Palestinian irredentism.

That is why it is time now to right the moral and historical wrong of Ariel Sharon’s disengagement plan and rebuild Gush Katif.